Testing method inside method Python

Can I test a method inside a method in Python?

search.py

   def SearchWeb(query=None):
        """Search via API"""
        search = cool_api.api_request(query)
        def _HandleResponse(search):
            if search:
              return search['result']
        return _HandleResponse(search)

I want to create a test method for _HandleResponse using unittest

search_test.py

import unittest

class MyTest(unittest.TestCase):
    def test(self):
        response = {}
        response['result'] = 'yes'
        self.assertEqual(search._HandleResponse(response), 'yes')

But _HandleResponse is not accessible. I get:

AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute '_HandleResponse'

I can move _HandleResponse outside SearchWeb method and that works, but wondering if this is possible?